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Gerald Epstein To Be Assistant Director For National Security,And Victor Villhard To Be Named Assistant Director For Space And

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of Science and Technology Policy

For Immediate Release Contact: 202/456-6047

December 3, 1999

GERALD EPSTEIN TO BE ASSISTANT DIRECTOR FOR NATIONAL SECURITY,AND VICTOR VILLHARD TO BE NAMED ASSISTANT DIRECTOR FOR SPACE AND AERONAUTICS

Dr. Neal Lane, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology and Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, today announced his appointment of Gerald L. Epstein as Assistant Director for National Security, effective December 1, 1999. Lane also announced his intention to appoint Lt Col Victor Villhard as Assistant Director for Space and Aeronautics.

Epstein replaces Bruce MacDonald, who has left the government for the private sector; Villhard will fill the position occupied by Jeff Hofgard, who will pursue opportunities in private industry.

Dr. Epstein has been serving as Senior Policy Analyst in OSTP’s National Security and International Affairs Division. Prior to joining OSTP, Dr. Epstein had been a Senior Associate in the International Security and Space Program at the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment. From 1989 to 1991, Dr. Epstein directed the Dual-Use Technologies Project at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. He has also served as Visiting Lecturer of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School. Dr. Epstein received B.S. degrees in Physics and in Electrical Engineering in 1978 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and M.A. (1980) and Ph.D. (1984) degrees in Physics from the University of California at Berkeley.

The OSTP Assistant Director for National Security works in the areas of science and technology relating to national security. Current issues include Federal R&D policies to counter twenty-first century threats, including weapons of mass destruction and physical or computer-based attacks on our critical infrastructures; missile defense; nonproliferation; and arms control.

Since August 1997, Lt Col Villhard has been assigned to the National Science and Technology Council, which has assumed the responsibilities of the National Space Council for issues including space policy development and implementation for space transportation, commercial remote sensing, and other space related matters. Before joining OSTP, Villhard was on the staff of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Space in the Pentagon. Prior to his Pentagon tour, he was assigned for four years to Headquarters Air Force Space Command and for five years to Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. In the mid-1980’s, he worked on twelve Space Shuttle launches as a systems engineer at the Kennedy Space Center. Lt Col Villhard has a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from Parks College of St. Louis University, and a M.S. in Aeronautical Engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology.

The OSTP Assistant Director for Space and Aeronautics works in all areas relating to U.S. national space policy and aeronautics. Current priorities include continuing to safely conduct the missions of the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station, developing plans for the civil space transportation architecture of the future, and shaping the national strategy for the future management and use of the U.S. space launch bases and ranges.